Richards was on the United Center ice Sunday night for the pregame warmup, but he was removed from the lineup in favor of rookie forward Tyler Toffoli.

The Blackhawks won 4-2 to take a 2-0 lead in this best-of-7 series.

"He was fine today, then I think just once his blood got pumping tonight, the adrenaline got going, there were symptoms," Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter said. "I went in right after warmup, he was sitting there and I said, 'Unless you're 100 percent, you're not playing.'"

CHICAGO - Any way you slice it, the Chicago Blackhawks' regular-season record is impressive.

They went 18-3-3 in home games and 18-4-2 in road games. They went 19-3-5 in one-goal games, 26-2-1 when scoring first and 10-4-4 when the opposition scored the game-opening goal.

That's not to mention the 10-1-1 record in the second game of back-to-back contests, which seems pertinent with the Blackhawks holding a 1-0 series lead against the Los Angeles Kings prior to hosting Game 2 of the Western Conference Final on Sunday night at United Center (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, TSN, RDS) - the second of back-to-back games here this weekend.

The Kings went 5-2-1 in the second game of their back-to-backs, but Chicago played in more and did better overall - right down to the lone regulation loss coming on the road against the St. Louis Blues on the last day of the season, when Chicago rested most of its starting lineup.

"[I've] never played back-to-back in the playoffs," Blackhawks defenseman Johnny Oduya said Sunday morning. "During this year, too, especially with the compressed schedule, a lot of games, maybe this year [more] than any year, we're more prepared for that type of mentality coming into the second game, two games in a row there."

Chicago’s advantage in shots on goal dwindled in the second period of Game 1 of the Western Conference Final, but the quality of the Blackhawks’ scoring chances improved. Not coincidentally, the Blackhawks scored twice to take control of a game they were dominating everywhere but the scoreboard.

After Chicago's series-opening 2-1 victory, a couple of Blackhawks’ players said nothing changed about the way they were attacking, but Kings center Jarrett Stoll had a pretty good idea of what changed.

"Turnovers," Stoll said. "The second period there was a lot of choppy play in the neutral zone, hacking and whacking at pucks. They came up and put a lot of those pucks in, got them behind our defense, and therefore they scored a couple of goals off of it. Also we were playing more D zone than we wanted to. We've gotta get pucks in. We've gotta get our forecheck going, get our speed, big, heavy, physical game going."

CHICAGO -- There are moments of satisfaction in a coach's life, times when he makes a move that helps his team win. Joel Quenneville of the Chicago Blackhawks had one of those moments on Saturday.

Quenneville rejiggered his lines for Game 1 of the Western Conference Final against the Los Angeles Kings, then watched each of his new pairings score a second-period goal in a 2-1 victory at United Center.

"I liked it," Quenneville said of the bigger top line facing a more physically imposing team than Chicago saw against the Detroit Red Wings in the conference semifinals. "It was efficient. A lot of puck time in offensive-zone shifts. They're dangerous off the rush. Defensively, down low in our end, a lot of kill plays as well."

The Kings have won their past six series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs because they have always found a way to get to their heavy, grinding, forechecking game. They never really got to it Saturday in part because the Blackhawks were quick with their transition game but mainly, some Kings players were saying, because they were uncharacteristically cute with the puck and it led to turnovers.

ROSEMONT, Ill. -- The Los Angeles Kings have grown fond of saying that last year they learned how to find success and this year they're learning how to deal with it.

The second part can be harder than the first.

"There is another level that an athlete should want to reach even after you've won [a championship]," Kings general manager Dean Lombardi said Friday. "To be part of a franchise in the mode of the [Detroit] Red Wings, [Green Bay] Packers or [New England] Patriots -- there is another level, far from being the best you can be as an individual and as a team. I think we're progressing toward that."

Lombardi isn't saying that because his team is back in the Western Conference Final, with Game 1 against the Chicago Blackhawks set for Saturday at United Center (5 p.m. ET, NBCSN, TSN, RDS). He's saying it because throughout the regular season and right into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, he has seen that progression while watching them play from his spot high above the ice.

Los Angeles steamrolled opponents in the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, taking a 3-0 lead in each of its four series en route to a 16-4 record and the first championship in team history. Chicago followed the Kings’ record-breaking postseason with a historic start to the 2012-13 season, going 24 games (21-0-3) without a regulation loss.

Now these teams, the past two NHL champions to hail from their conference, will meet for the right to play for the Cup again in the Western Conference Final. Chicago is 6-1 at home this postseason, and Los Angeles is 1-5 away from Staples Center.

Game 1 is Saturday at United Center (5 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN, RDS), and Game 2 is the following evening. Here are five areas to pay close attention to in Game 1:

ROSEMONT, Ill. -- In the latest episode of talking in circles with Los Angeles Kings coach Darryl Sutter, the focus Friday was on his team's size versus the Chicago Blackhawks' speed, a major point of emphasis in the pre-series breakdown of the Western Conference Final.

"If you actually look at it, their lineup that they had in their last game and our lineup that we had last game is identical," Sutter said. "The size is the same, so I guess we have a problem with their speed."

And how do the Kings plan on dealing with the Blackhawks' speed, starting with Game 1 at United Center on Saturday (5 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN, RDS)?

CHICAGO -- It's a question that's worth asking as the Chicago Blackhawks prepare for a tough, physical Western Conference Final against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings.

Did the Detroit Red Wings wake up the Presidents' Trophy winners in their Western semifinal series -- or did they wear out the Blackhawks by forcing Chicago to win three straight games to advance, including Game 7 in overtime?

"I don't know," Blackhawks defenseman Johnny Oduya said Friday, pausing to think about his answer following practice. "I would say 'woke us up.' At some point in that series we had to start playing more desperate to win games. That's kind of what happened. They forced us to do that."

After being pushed to the brink of elimination with a 2-0 loss in Game 4 at Joe Louis Arena, the Blackhawks got off the mat and responded. They found a way to outlast the Red Wings and breathe life back into their Stanley Cup dreams.

Next up is an even taller order.

The physically imposing, defense-oriented Kings will be in the visitors locker room when the Blackhawks next take the ice Saturday at United Center for Game 1 of the series that will determine one of the Stanley Cup Final participants (5 p.m. ET, NBCSN, CBC, RDS).

That doesn't mean the Kings don't have some players with speed and skill who wouldn't mind playing the way Chicago and the Detroit Red Wings did in the Western Conference Semifinals. And Blackhawks forward Bryan Bickell certainly isn't going to be sad about matching up with the rough-and-tumble Kings.

"Yeah, I think it is my game definitely," Bickell said. "The hitting is probably the main part of my game, whether to spark the team or just get separation for the guys out there. Finishing checks is a way to grind down their D and their forwards. It is my part of the game. It is going to be a physical series. We haven't had so much of that in the first two series, but we're looking forward to it."

At 6-foot-4, 233 pounds, Bickell looks the part of a Los Angeles forward. The Kings won the Stanley Cup last season on the strength of Jonathan Quick's goaltending, but also the physical play of their big, speedy wings who complemented a deep, talented group of centers.

There could be some thunderous collisions in Game 1 on Saturday at United Center (5 p.m. ET; NBCSN, RDS, TSN). The teams will be amped up for the start of a new series and looking to establish a tone.

He's only 17 but he can see the ice so well and he moves the puck and goes to the open ice all the time, so I just think he's a player that is ready to play in the NHL. I'm really looking forward to coaching someone like this.

— U.S. National Junior Team coach Ron Wilson on Auston Matthews, the projected No. 1 pick of the 2016 NHL Draft